The present disclosure relates to an information processing apparatus, an information storage apparatus, an information processing system, and information processing method and program. Particularly, the present disclosure relates to an information processing apparatus, an information storage apparatus, an information processing system, and information processing method and program which control content use.
For example, movie and music content is provided to users via various media such as a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), a Blu-ray Disc (registered trademark), or a flash memory, a network such as the Internet, or a broadcast wave. The users can reproduce the content by using recording and reproducing apparatuses such as a PC, a mobile terminal, and a BD player or various information processing apparatuses such as a television.
Copyrights, distribution rights, and the like of such content of music data, image data, and the like to be provided to users are typically reserved by creators or sellers thereof in many cases. Therefore, content providers perform predetermined content use control in many cases for providing the content to users.
A digital recording apparatus and a recording medium can repeat recording and reproducing without degrading an image and sound, for example, and there are problems that distribution of improperly copied content via the Internet and use of improperly copied content have been rampant.
As a specific configuration for preventing such improper use of content, content encryption processing has been proposed. According to the configuration, content to be provided to users is encrypted, and only authorized users can acquire an encryption key. Such processing is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-98765, for example.
The encryption key used for decoding the encrypted data is recorded in a medium such as a memory card owned by a user along with the encrypted content when the user purchases the encrypted content, for example, when the user downloads the encrypted content.
A reproducing apparatus on which the memory card is mounted can reproduce the content by reading the encrypted content and the encryption key from the memory card and decoding the encrypted content by applying the encryption key in reproducing the content.
As described above, so-called medium-bind type content uses control in which content is associated with one medium is realized by recording the encrypted content and the encryption key as one data set in a medium such as a memory card.
Such medium-bind type content can be reproduced by various reproducing apparatuses on which the medium can be mounted.
In recent years, content acquiring processing is performed by content downloading processing via a network. Users store downloaded content on a medium such as a memory card and mount the medium on various reproducing apparatuses to read and reproduce the content from the medium.
Although there are various content storage media, removable media such as a USB memory and an SD card have been frequently used in recent years. Such media are small sized and have an advantage that the media can be attached to and detached from various reproducing devices. For example, users can reproduce content by using various reproducing devices such as a mobile reproducing device and a stationary reproducing device in accordance with use conditions.
When a user reproduces content by using a medium such as a USB memory or an SD card, the user sets the media, on which the content is stored, in a media interface (I/F) of a host device which is a reproducing apparatus and causes the host device to execute a reproducing application thereof. By such processing, it is possible to reproduce and use various kinds of content stored in media.
When a medium such as a USB memory or an SD card is used, it is necessary to mount the medium on a medium interface of a host device which is a reproducing apparatus, namely on a USB interface (USB I/F), an SD interface (SD I/F), or the like.
Such a medium interface is configured in compliance with a predetermined physical standard. According to the physical standard, a medium is configured to be able to transfer data only to one host device at the same time. That is, a medium is set so as not to be able to transfer data to a plurality of host devices in parallel.
Accordingly, content recorded in a medium 10 is allowed to be reproduced only by a host device 30 which is connected to the medium as shown in FIG. 1A.
That is, a situation that the content stored on the single medium 10 is output by two or more host devices in parallel and the plurality of host devices reproduce the same content at the same time does not occur.
However, there is a possibility that processing of receiving and reproducing the content stored on the medium 10 via a network from a server 30, on which the single content storage medium 10 is mounted, may be performed by processing of modifying media drivers of a plurality of host devices 30-1 to 30-n and mounting dummy media 31-1 to 31-n on the medium interfaces as shown in FIG. 1B.
If the processing as shown in FIG. 1B is performed, the plurality of host devices, namely n host devices 30-1 to 30-n shown in FIG. 1B can reproduce a single piece of content stored on the single medium 10 at the same time in parallel.
The content use configuration shown in FIG. 1B is a configuration which may enable an indefinite number of users who did not legally purchase content to use the single piece of purchased content. If content is used as described above, the content stored on the medium 10 is chaotically reproduced and used by an indefinite number of users. As a result, copyrights and distribution rights of content are infringed, and interests of persons who legally hold the rights are improperly harmed.